Eye oh eye!

Thursday night: Alissa's eye started to look red and swollen. I figured it was probably just a symptom of fatigue from being up late.

Friday morning: nothing had changed, but by Friday night the swelling had gotten worse. I resolved to take her to the doctor in the morning if it hadnt gotten better.

Saturday morning: Sure enough, her eye looked even worse. Off to the insta-care we go. Her temp. ran 101.4, so the nurse gave her some motrin. Then the doctor came in. (I should say he was actually a doctors assistant, and I think he lacked the necessary knowledge). He pretty much wrote it off to allergies, after I told him that I have allergies, and prescribed her some eye drops, amoxacillin, and zyrtec...along with tylenol when needed for pain. Nothing like a doped up kid for the weekend! So basically, he was just covering all the bases, because clearly he didnt know what was wrong!

Sunday morning: She stumbles into our room around 5 am, complaining that her eye hurt. So I get out of bed and take a look at it. Holy cow! Its still growing! It had swelled to about double the size! She refused to open her eyes because it hurt. So now I have a doped up blind kid, walking into walls. Ryan took the kids to church, while I stayed with her. When he got home, I called the docter again, and they said to bring her back in, in case she was having an allergic reaction to the meds. Ryan and our friend gave her a blessing, and then he took her back in. It was 2:00 by then and she was starting to act lethargic. About an hour later I get a call from Ryan. After thourally questioning him about abuse (you know swollen eye and bruises from running into walls), they rushed her to the ER and an ophthalmologist was coming to take some pictures of her eye and they wanted to do blood work, a urine test, and a cat scan! He said they seemed pretty concerned about it, so I should try to come in.
So I called our friends, took the kids over to their house, and Brylee and I headed to join Ryan and Alissa at the hospital. By the time I got there about an hour later, they had already done all the testing. Guess they went remarkably fast. So Alissa was fast asleep on Ryans chest. Here is how sad she looked when I came in... (BTY-this isnt the eye that was swollen!)

Apparently, during the IV insertions, she kept crying "THEIR KILLING ME!" , and making the nurse cry. They had to really bandage her arm with a brace so she wouldnt bend it and wrap it up good, because she was so sweaty, the tape wouldnt stick. Thats a lot of bandage for one little IV.
We sat and waited for all the results to come in for about an hour. The nurse took her temp a few times during the waiting, and it did start to come down from the 102 range to 99. Finally the doctor came in with the cat scan results. Looks like she was just super congested, and it had gone all up around her cheekbone and eyelid. So thats way better than the conclusions we were drawing. They still wanted to keep her overnight, so we got moved to a room while they continued to pump loads of Motrin and antibiotics in her. The swelling had started to go down. Here is a picture of her bad eye, after we moved to a room, but you cant really tell how bad it was by looking at the picture.
One of the things she kept asking for during her tests, was Brylee (Not Mom...Brylee). She finally smiled after she woke up and saw her little sister beaming at her. Then she found out she was going to get jello, and to watch a movie. That was the happiest we'de seen her in days!

Smiling at Brylee with one eye open. Monday morning: When I talked to Ryan in the morning, he said they wanted to keep her there another night. Her infection is really bad...theres a thin lining stopping it from spreading to her eye and her brain. When its that bad, they need to watch it really close. Ryan says her eye is starting to get really goopy and watery. She continues to be drugged up on Motrin to control her fever. She was okay with having to stay another day, but Im sure that was just the drugs talking. Normally, she would be clawing at the door to leave. I packed up the kids and picked up some balloons for her to take to the hospital. We arrived about 10:00. At this point they were getting ready to wheel her down to the ophthalmologist, so I decided to get in on the fun, and be the one to go with her. She sat on my lap as they wheeled us to the other side of the hospital. She was crying the whole way that she didnt want to stay in the hospital any more, and that the doctor was going to hurt her. "Im going to have to live here!" escaped her lips a few times. Then she stared getting upset at Ryan for promising her that they wouldnt hurt her, and then breaking his promise by letting them hurt her arm (with the IV). How could she trust me, whenRyan had already broken his promise? It was very heartbreaking.

After a too long wait, with people staring and commenting, we finally went back to see the ophthalmologist. She sounded very concerned about the rest of our family (especially Brylee)catching the same virus, because it is very contagious. Fortunately, Alissa's eye still looked good, and it hadnt spread. Unfortunately, it is viral (she has something called celluitis) and there is nothing we can do for her but wait it out. After that Ryan had to go home to do some homework, so I stayed with her for a few hours. During that time, she got a huge headache and was having hot and cold flashes. She wont eat much, but has continual fluids draining into her.
For now I am home. I have to wash everything she has come into contact with. Ryan will be with her through the night again. Hopefully she will be able to come home tomorrow, but only time will tell...and she will still need to be basically quarantined for the next week. I will update more when we know. Prayers are appreciated on her behalf.